Jean-Pierre Raffarin Quotes

There have been major disagreements within the European Union.

We must stress that the euro has been beneficial to the European Union because, otherwise, in this context of international turmoil, every country would have to devalue their currencies.

We shall say clearly that any symbol conspicuously displaying religious affiliation in school is prohibited.

Let them be reassured, it has never been one of our intentions to ban religion in society, but solely to protect the national education system from any conspicuous display of religious affiliation.

I was a Member of the European Parliament for a period of time and I saw a lot of European laws and treaties.

But the Republic has its rules and it must not tolerate any abuse of them.

I tell fundamentalists that there is no question of them attacking our Republic's foundations.

I believe that transatlantic relations are very important and that President Bush's visit to Brussels, in a few days, will have a major impact on that.

I think that the proposed constitution is one of the European legal documents with the strongest social dimension I have seen since I began following European issues.

We would like UN resolutions to be enforced, including on Iraq.

Obviously, there is diversity, but Europe is a union of diversity.

The Europe we are in the process of building is the Europe of the 21st century; it's not the Europe of the 20th century.

It's important to show that, while authorizing the demonstrations and promoting diversity of opinion, the Republic can't allow itself to be undermined from within.

I am a believer, but I affirm that in public buildings the law of the Republic overrides religious rules.

The United States, for a French citizen, is a friend, an ally, to whom we owe, along with most Europeans, our freedom.

A country like France now does two-thirds of its trade within the euro zone.

The Republic is open and tolerant but also knows how and when to be firm and make its values respected.

It's true that the question of Iraq divided Europe.

What's very important is that we build a space that matters in the world, one that operates according to democratic rules, and that small and large countries enjoy a good relationship.

Prohibiting a visible religious sign, which isn't a manifestation of militancy, would look like a fight against religions.

We believe that the European Union is facing a truly historic choice.

France has a very important relationship with Germany. But that does not mean that we agree about everything or that two of our universities or companies are not going to compete.

Europe started out with six countries; three small countries and three large countries.